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Senator Gray. Were the Islands in a state of business depression while you were there, or otherwise?

Mr. Delamater. Business depression.

Senator Gray.To what was that attributed?

Mr. Delamater. To the McKinley bill.

Senator Gray. That that the McKinley bill made sugar free?

Mr. Delamater. Yes.

Senator Gray. And deprived the grower of the advantage that he had when there was a tax?

Mr. Delamater. Yes.

Senator Gray. And you say that the change in that condition of things was the principal cause of the business depression?

Mr. Delamater. Yes; I think so. Of course you know a doctor is not a business man, usually, and I just got a sort of impression.

Senator Gray. Were the sugar growers Annexationists, with the exception of Mr. Spreckles?

Mr. Delamater. I judge that before I came away they were. But I got the impression very strongly in my mind that the sugar growers were opposed to it at the start. I did not talk with a great many of them; but I got that impression at the start.

Senator Gray. What impression did you finally get?

Mr. Delamater. My final impression was, that, in common with others, they were in favor of it.

SWORN STATEMENT OF FRANCIS R. DAY.

Senator Frye. State your age and occupation.

Mr. Day. I am 34 years old and a practitioner of medicine.

Senator Frye. Where?

Mr. Day. My residence is Honolulu.

Senator Frye. How long have you been at Honolulu?

Mr. Day. I located there in the fall of 1887 and have been a resident ever since that time until last August. I left there for this country at that time.

Senator Frye. Were you there at the time Kalakaua was compelled to assent to the constitution of 1887?

Mr. Day. I was in the city at the time, but not a resident.

Senator Frye. Were you a witness to what took place then?

Mr. Day. No.

Senator Frye. Are you acquainted with the people of the islands?

Mr. Day. Yes.

Senator Frye. Has your residence been all this time at Honolulu?

Mr. Day. Yes.

Senator Frye. I will bring you down now to the few weeks preceding what is known as the last revolution, and you may state what you saw going on, and what you knew in the Legislature and elsewhere.

Mr. Day. Politically there was a great deal of interest in the conflict which was going on in the Legislature for some few months before the revolution of January, 1893. The struggle seemed to be between the Queen and her supporters and the opposition, to establish a precedent which would make the sovereign appoint the cabinet from a majority of the Legislature-that is, by calling a leader of the majority of the Legislature, and he select his associates, and she confirm them; the Queen and her party, on the other hand, attempting to have the appointing power purely a personal prerogative of her own, ignoring, in

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other words, the majority of the Legislature and selecting whom she chose for the cabinet. The fight was a long and bitter one until, I think it was, in November, when she yielded to the opposition so far as to call a member of the opposition Mr. G. N. Wilcox to form her cabinet-known as the Wilcox cabinet. That cabinet was formed by the Legislature and was composed of Mr. Wilcox, Mr. P.C. Jones, Mr. Mark Robinson, and Cecil Brown, and practically, for the first time since the Legislature had convened some months before, they got down to a working basis and things went along smoothly until two or three days before the close of the Legislature, when the country was taken by surprise to find that the Wilcox cabinet had been put out by vote of want of confidence, and the appointment by the Queen of a cabinet on her old plan of simply personal authority. That cabinet was composed of Samuel Parker, W. H. Cornwell, J. F. Colburn, and A. P. Peterson, if I remember rightly.

That cabinet did not possess the confidence of the business community, and they were consequently disappointed at the selection. The following day, I think, the Legislature passed what was known as the lottery bill, legalizing the establishment of a lottery in Honolulu-a bill that had been brought before the Legislature in the earlier months of the session and had aroused a good deal of public opposition. The opposition was so strong that it was, for a time, at least, withdrawn or laid aside, and the community supposed for good. But it was rushed through the third reading and the Queen signed the bill, making it law, during the last days of the Legislature; I do not remember the exact date. The opium bill was passed in very much the same way, licensing the sale of opium. It is needless to say that the community was aroused almost to the point of desperation, certainly of the deepest indignation, over these rapidly succeeding acts of the Queen and her party.

On Saturday, the 14th of January, the Legislature was prorogued in the usual form, and immediately after that the Queen attempted to promulgate-or rather attempted to overthrow the existing constitution and promulgate a new one which made certain radical changes in the form of the Government.

Senator Frye. When the Jones-Wilcox cabinet was formed and the lottery and opium bills had been defeated, before the Boston left the harbor on the trip down to Hilo, had everything settled down to quiet?

Mr. Day. Everything was supposed to be settled when the Wilcox cabinet went into office and the machinery of Government was going on for the two months that they held office. Their dismissal, I think, on a vote of want of confidence was a complete surprise to the community.

Senator Frye. So that there was no expectation of any difficulty at the time the Boston left the harbor and went down to Hilo?

Mr. Day. None whatever.

Senator Frye.That was supposed to be settled for the next eighteen months-during the life of the Legislature?

Mr. Day.Yes.

Senator Frye. When the Boston left and there took place what you were going to state-the Queen attempted to form a new constitution?

Mr. Day. The news of that attempt spread through the community with great rapidity, and business men, property holders, professional men of the community, all felt that it meant a crisis in the country's history. The feeling was so intense that it was a spontaneous sentiment that something radical would have to be done. In a hurried way a number of business and professional men met at a central location in the city